The More You Know
What to know: The public has a right to know what government is doing and why. This right ensures that we, the people, are well-positioned “to ask questions, to speak out, to demand change.”
The TPPF take: Public information should be timely, accurate, and accessible to all Texans.
“From transparency comes accountability. Accountability begets credibility. And credibility breeds confidence in government,” says TPPF’s James Quintero. “Texas government should aspire to a strong system of open government laws, in the hope that we might maintain a healthy, well-functioning republic for generations to come.”
For more on public information, click here.
And Here’s an Example!
What to know: How your child is doing in school is one example of public information that should be accurate and accessible. Unfortunately, it’s not that easy.
The TPPF take: Parents deserve to know how their child’s school is performing. That’s why TPPF has put together the Lone Star Ledger.
“Texas does publish a lot of data,” says TPPF’s Jorge Borrego. “That is good. But it lives in silos. Our A to F ratings sit on one site. The annual Texas Academic Performance Report (TAPR) comes as a lengthy PDF that most people cannot navigate. And for the last five years, school districts have kept suing the state to prevent parents from knowing how they perform. In short, taxpayers paid for transparency they still cannot use. That is why I built the Lone Star Ledger at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.”
For more on the Lone Star Ledger, click here.
Deportations
What to know: The deportations of illegal immigrants continues, with the Trump administration on track to deport a total of 600,000 illegal immigrants since returning to the White House.
The TPPF take: Trump’s immigration reset is lifting wages and forcing real economic reform.
“In January of this year, annual job growth among foreign-born workers was almost 1.2 million higher than job growth among native-born Americans,” says TPPF’s Chuck DeVore. “Fast-forward to June and the situation completely reversed, with native-born Americans seeing annual employment gains of almost 1.4 million more jobs than foreign-born workers.”
For more on immigration and wages, click here.